


Before I Go

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: Nikki checks up on Mac. (Unbeta'd)





	Before I Go

Her handler told her that Mac was alive, that he was  _fine_ , but… Nikki has to see for herself! Because nobody should’ve gotten hurt.  _Nobody_. Bumps and bruises, those were unavoidable, sure, but she didn’t plan on anyone getting shot, let alone  _Mac_! 

Kendrick, that  _bastard_! When she heard the shot, when she saw Mac fall, she wanted to abort her mission, to get Kendrick for what he had done and save Mac, but her handler refused.  _Stuff happens,_  he said.  _Stuff happens!_  That’s what he called Mac almost dying! Jesus Christ, she should’ve never gotten involved with the frickin’ CIA.

And that’s why Nikki needs to check on Mac and see for herself that he’s alright.

She’s hiding in a motel room, waiting to be contacted by the Organization or by her handler, whoever calls first, so she can’t leave. But she hadn’t been Mac and Jack’s tech support all these months for nothing.

Pulling out her laptop, Nikki starts typing, her fingers flying across the keyboard, and in no time, she’s digging through layers and layers of her old employer’s system; she’s the one who helped build it up, after all. She would’ve been a fool not to leave a few back doors open for herself, just in case.

Files, files, files… MacGyver, Angus… Status: ALIVE… Current location… oh, the local hospital. That makes her anxiety skyrocket. Thornton would’ve never let them take Mac to a local hospital if he had been in any shape for transport. Getting entangled with the locals always means a paper trail which is easy to follow. And that means…  _Just how bad off is Mac?_

Nikki backs out of the database, leaving it running in the background, and steals into the hospital surveillance system; considering the amount of sensitive information a hospital usually stores, it’s way too easy.  _Sloppy, sloppy._

She doesn’t know under what name they keep Mac there - Thornton would never put that name into the system - but she can go about finding him another way. Camera at the main entrance…  yes, there. One of their agents. Another one at the elevator and at door to the stairwell… up, up… up… another one of their people on the third floor… and then… two at the door of room…  _312_. It’s like following bred crumbs. But that’s protocol for you. It’s easily used against you by people who know it as well as she does.

Still, that’s more people than she thought Thornton would send - it’s good that she didn’t try to sneak in in person, they would’ve spotted her in no time - but then, Angus MacGyver is a high value asset, not a common agent, after all. Besides, for these people, Mac’s more than that, more than a colleague. He’s their friend.

There’s Caroline whose elderly mother’s been in the wheelchair for years and Mac helped her build a special ramp at her home. And Peter whom Mac taught how to fix his car since he has a second child on the way and no money to spare for a new ride. And Joan and David and Carl… they all love Mac.

And then there’s  _Jack Dalton_.

Nikki enters the “Think Tank’s” database once more and hits the surveillance subdivision. Knowing the protocol, there will be a camera inside Mac’s room, one their own, keeping an eye on Mac. Invasive? Yeah. But considering the threat, probably justified. And since she can’t visit him in person…

The image of the room pops up on her screen in stark black and white colors and Nikki’s breath catches in her throat. The quality is much better than on the hospital’s surveillance, carrying both image and sound.

Mac’s lying in the bed on the opposite side of the room, with the window on his left and the door leading out into the hospital corridor on his right. And he’s surrounded by machines, blinking away quietly. He’s asleep or unconscious, still intubated and with a big white surgical dressing on the left side of his chest. Just to the left and an inch or two above his heart.

Nikki grows cold. Her hands turn clammy and start to shake so hard the keys on her laptop rattle under her fingers. She didn’t know. She didn’t realize it was so bad…

The door in the room opens and Thornton walks in, dragging Nikki’s attention away from Mac. Immediately, a figure unfolds from a chair in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadows -  _Jack Dalton_.

As Nikki suspected, he’s right there, with Mac. He probably hasn’t left Mac’s side ever since he pulled Mac out of the water - Nikki’s handler told her that it was Jack who saved Mac. Nikki likes Jack Dalton. He’s not as brilliant as Mac, but then almost no one is - in the privacy of her mind Nikki admits to herself that not even she’s as smart as MacGyver, and she wonders if that was the reason why she accepted this assignment and started working for the CIA, to prove something to herself and to him - but he’s loyal. Nikki has never met anyone as loyal as Jack and all his loyalty belongs to Mac, not to their “Think Tank” and not to their team. To  _Mac_. She’s always been a little jealous of that, of their relationship, if she were perfectly honest.

Thornton and Jack step up to Mac’s bed and start talking and Nikki cranks up the volume.

“… build-up of fluids in his chest,” Jack’s saying, gripping the metal frame of Mac’s bed and bending a little forward. “The doctors look worried. And when the docs look worried,  _I_ get worried. No, actually scratch that. I’m downright  _terrified_ here, Patti.”

Thornton pats him on the shoulder. “He’ll be alright, Jack. I’m flying in our own specialist to take a look at him. As soon as he’s well enough, we’ll fly Mac back to LA where he’ll get the best care he can get, I promise you that.”

Jack looks at her sideways. “The higher-uppers okayed that? All that expense for just  _one guy_?”

“MacGyver’s not just  _some guy_ , Jack,” Thornton replies.

Jack turns his head to stare back at his best friend. “Yeah, I know that. Better than anyone, believe me.”

After a moment of silence during which they both watch Mac simply breathe, Jack asks quietly, “Did they find Nikki’s body yet?”

Thornton sighs and rubs her forehead. “No. We think the tide washed it away…”

Nikki swallows hard, relieved but also a little disappointed. Yes, her plan worked. But if it hadn’t, if they had figured out her ruse, then she could actually go home and drop this whole charade.

Her phone chirps and Nikki jumps, suddenly terrified. She picks it up. A message. From Kendrick. The Organisation accepted their offer. Big bucks for a vial of virus so potent it could kill millions. She’s in.  _Joy._

Nikki sends back her confirmation. Then she sends out another message, this time to her CIA handler. Within seconds, she receives a reply, a few words of congratulation on her success.  _Yeah, thanks,_ she thinks sarcastically. Now it’s time to truly disappear.

She looks at her laptop screen. Thornton has gone and Jack returned to his chair, watching over Mac like a hawk. And Mac’s sleeping away and, hopefully, healing. Nikki blinks hard to push back tears and touches the screen lightly.  _I’m so sorry, so very, very sorry_.

Then she closes her eyes for a moment, gathering her courage, and when she opens them again, Nikki Carpenter’s gone. The woman in her place logs out of her old employer’s system and closes her laptop with a sharp click, leaving her past behind.


End file.
